﻿David Brannan

The crime shocked a southwest Omaha neighborhood, with ripple effects felt all the way to Scotland. David Brannan allegedly killed his stepmother, Tracy Brannan, in a July 2010 attack in which he is also accused of stabbing his father, Harold Brannaan.

Tracy Brannan, courtesy STV News

Tracy, 33, had just moved to Omaha from Scotland to be with her new, older husband, just two months before her death. She was sharing a house with Harold and David in the Westwood neighborhood. Tracy's brother, Simon Wyatt, had been a long-time friend of Harold's. It was while Harold was visiting Simon in Scotland that he met Tracy. The two had instant chemistry.

Simon said of David, "He has mental problems, yes, but he's not insane. He has problems where drugs are concerned and where alcohol is concerned. I want to see him do prison time." Simon has been in Omaha helping Harold through a cancer battle - a battle that Harold lost on December 23, 2011.

Simon said that David had a violent juvenile background having stabbed his father a few years ago, but he thought a stint in youth corrections had helped David make changes for the better. "When he came back, he turned around, he said he hated the place. He never wants to go back," Simon said. He also said that David had been planning on opening up a tattoo shop and seemed to be looking ahead.

But on the night of July 24, 2010, David, then 21-years old, things changed. Harold's account was one of a fun night where Tracy, Harold and David had been playing games. Tracy, he said, had been trying to get David out of an apparent depression, encouraging him to come up out of his basement room and join the family more often.

Harold said something in David snapped. An argument ensued and David stabbed Tracy multiple times and "viciously" kicked her in the head. When Harold tried to save her, he too was stabbed. David then turned the knife on himself, slitting his own through, though he did recover.

Harold's friend and caretaker in the end, Beverly Indrika, said "I've known Dave for six or seven years," she said. "I never saw an insane moment in him. I saw him get drunk and get angry," but she said, "He was always in control." Dave subsequently got off on an Insanity charge.